I haven’t been to Hatyaai, Thailand for a very long time. I think my last trip was 2 or 3 years back. I took the trips for granted and didn’t take many pictures due to the fact that it is so near to where I am that I used to go every month.
It is only about 28kms from the city of Songkhla, is an important gateway for travellers coming overland from Malaysia & Singapore. Roughly about 60kms from the Malaysian border, Hat Yai is the best place to go for weekend getaways
It is a shopping heaven for us in north of Malaysia. Cheap and a lot more choices than what here has to offer. It’s best avoided if you are looking to get off the beaten path. Prices are high because of the Malaysian and Singaporean tourists.
I enjoyed most during Songkran Festival. Sad to say, I do not have any pictures as I was worried that my camera or my phone would not be able to handle so much water and drown.
For those who are wondering what I am talking about, Songkran is is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year’s Day from 13 to 15 April, every year. The traditional throwing of water is meant as a symbol of washing all of the bad away and is sometimes filled with fragrant herbs when celebrated in the traditional manner. Nowadays, they just use talcum powder. Usually they will slather on you prickly heat talcum powder.
Please note that during these days of celebration one cannot get angry or scold with people touching you or splashing you with water. But don’t worry, they only touch your face and nowhere else. Water however, will be splash, shoot, thrown etc from all sides. They will provide free water everywhere ( I usually carry a water pump gun ) for everybody to refill. Those using cold water are most welcome as usually it is the hottest time of the year.
I usually go to Pet-Tai ( night market ). Take a Tuk Tuk there from town. Used to be 300baht. But it closes early. Best to go around 7.00pm or 8.00pm. Then there’s also the ‘Market’ that opens during the day for you to go if you prefer to shop during daylights.
However, please-please-please remember to stay safe. A series of bombings in September 2006 that specifically targeted restaurants and shopping centres popular with visitors (and locals) killed two tourists. There were another 7 bombs in May 2007 in Hat Yai which killed one person. Strict security measures (bag searches, metal detectors) are to be expected in most gathering places. The latest bombing occurred on 6 May 2014. All you can do is be on the alert for suspicious activity and packages.
The last trip I went as usual had massages, manicure & pedicure. Try it as it is extremely cheap.
Oh yes. You can also get tattooed here. Permanent or not is totally up to you.
Also visited the Klonghae Floating Market. The market is situated in Tambon Klonghae in Hat Yai District. It’s open from Friday to Sunday (3:00pm to 9:00pm). There are boat tours around the area. You can also hire a boat to go for a paddle. There are minivans, buses and train services from Hatyai city to Tambon Klonghae.
Sorry for the bad pose…was enjoying the food very much.
You can definitely bring this home as souveniers
I love this!! It’s “Miang Kham”. A traditional popular snack in Thailand ( and if I’m not mistaken Laos.
The name can be interpreted as meaning “eating many things in one bite” – from miang , meaning “food wrapped in leaves”, and kham “a bite”.
Miang kham often consists of fresh chaphlu leaves that are filled with some roasted coconut shavings and few small pieces of the following core ingredients: shallots, fresh red or green bird’s eye chilli ( very spicy ok? Opt to put it aside if you cannot take spicy food ), garlic, ginger, lime juice + its peels. Roasted peanuts and small dried shrimps are often added to the mix.
Other ingredients that may also be added to the mixture are pieces of cashew nuts instead of peanuts and little pieces of sour green mango. But you can hardly find these unless you go to expensive places.
In Thailand, the filled leaves are often topped with palm syrup(or sugar cane syrup ) cooked with lemongrass, galanggal & fish sauce.
Seafoods especially sharksfin soup are cheap – if you think its okay to eat sharks fin ) I personally do not support this activity. Every year tens of millions of sharks die a slow death because of finning. Finning is the inhumane practice of hacking off the shark’s fins and throwing its still living body back into the sea. The sharks either starve to death, eaten alive by other fish, or drown (if they are not in constant movement their gills cannot extract oxygen from the water). Sharks take 7 to 14 years to reach maturity and stocks therefore take a long time to recover from overfishing. And just a few bowls of shark fin soup accounts for one dead shark, so it doesn’t take much imagination to see the devastating impact that this menu choice is having on shark populations.
But.. he he he. The Oysters here are huge, cheap & extremely lip-smacking good. These cultivated oysters are simply delicious.
Bugs are cheap as well. Ate a cricket once in Bangkok.. but that’s it. Haven’t had the guts to try others.
Sad to say these are the only photos I have of Hat Yai. Hopefully it will be safe soon to go to Hat Yai. The next time I am there – will make sure to snap tons of pictures.
Have a good day all.
Big Ol Me 
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